Gun Safety...It IS really important

[LRRPF52]

I would advise the specific focus and order of the NRA safety methods. I've seen people casually or rudely grab a firearm from someone else, when it would have been better to just tell them to keep it pointed in a safe direction, while keeping their finger off the trigger. I had a drunk foreign soldier do this once with me, and I don't drink. He had to prove that he knew these things better than the rest, and assumed I was some novice to firearms. It got to the point where I would have had to escalate to violence if I wanted to keep the pistol in my control, so I just let him have it, already knowing it was unloaded since I checked it before he came around.

He ended up looking like an ass, and was frowned on by the leadership in the unit that was hosting me there.

ALWAYS keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction.
ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
ALWAYS keep a gun unloaded until ready to use.

These prioritized steps make a lot more sense to me than any talk of unloaded first, since so many people are not familiar with the specific action of the firearm in question. I watched an RSO today who has been RSO'ing for 17 years, not know how to work the action on an AR15. He could tell when walking by if it was locked to the rear or BCG forward, but wasn't familiar with the manual of arms of the AR15.

Now take someone who knows nothing about guns, who is handling a firearm, and you call them out in a setting, particularly among other people. The rooms gets quiet, and all eyes are on them. Not only do they not know how to safely handle a firearm, but they know nothing of its mechanical functions. Right after you ask them, "Is that loaded?", they clam up, the frontal cortex loses almost all bloodflow, and their brainstem takes over. All they have seen in movies all their lives is Hollywood actors running around with their fingers on the trigger, flagging everyone, and blasting away. In that state of mind, the thinking goes like this:

Social stress...uggg
Gun my hand...ugg searching for any frame of reference...little lightbulb
Finger on trigger...something quickly says "Don't do that."
They do it anyway...

BLAM!rrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggggggg

"Oh f**k! Is she ok? Is she ok! Oh no! Oh no!"

How many times has this been the truth, versus the BS we are told in the presstitute vomit product? "A man was cleaning/handling/checking out a gun, when it went off and shot his daughter/friend/son/neighbor/poor bystander/kid at a party."

It's never, "Some ignoramus or negligent person was handling a firearm carelessly. With it pointed directly at [insert victim description here], the negligent offender pulled the trigger, and their target died/was seriously injured."

We never hear that. It's always, "the gun just went and fired itself".

One of the best things to do is start with toys and teach kids the 3 major NRA safety rules. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS

Then you can show them different action types so people are more familiar with them.